Paragraph 145(a)-(c) – Beijing Platform for Action. Chapter IV
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2019/11/03
Strategic objective E.2.
Reduce excessive military expenditures and control the availability of armaments
Actions to be taken
145. By Governments and international and regional organizations:
- Reaffirm the right of self-determination of all peoples, in particular of peoples under colonial or other forms of alien domination or foreign occupation, and the importance of the effective realization of this right, as enunciated, inter alia, in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action,/2 adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights;
- Encourage diplomacy, negotiation and peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, in particular Article 2, paragraphs 3 and 4 thereof;
- Urge the identification and condemnation of the systematic practice of rape and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment of women as a deliberate instrument of war and ethnic cleansing and take steps to ensure that full assistance is provided to the victims of such abuse for their physical and mental rehabilitation;
Beijing Declaration (1995)
Paragraph 145 (a) through (c) focuses on rights and decision-making. Within the previous contexts of the equality of the genders and the reduction in military expenditures around the world, we come to the straightforward notions covered in some of the previous coverage with the need to increase the number of women in the international and national structures of influence, immediately and for the long-term.
This improved representation of women may be unequal in terms of qualifications at the outset, as this has been centuries of a lack pathways for women and, in turn, representation of women (because of the lack of pathways and possibilities permitted for women at large). This is a complicated paragraph in a number of ways, too. The self-determination of peoples is a complex set of entailments from a simple idea.
This idea emerging from the notions of under colonial rule or a form of alien domination. The forms seen in some of the vast expanses of human history with the domination and forced erasure of peoples and cultures in the midst of colonial projects. Initiatives of the empires of history. Some of the more recent found the Europeans with one, at present, seen in the Americans and an emergent secular totalitarianism seen in the People’s Republic of China.
A form of secular fundamentalism and totalitarianism in a number of ways, and a empire to boot. The World Conference on Human Rights was first human rights conference held after the collapse of the Soviet Union leading to the end of the Cold War. The “effective realization” of the human right to self-determination amounts to a secularized universalization of the rights available to us.
In this manner, we can come to some of the more important aspects of the rights movements since the creation of the United Nations, or, even further back, the collapse of the notion of the Divine Rights of Kings. We can see the emphasis within the framework of the reduction of the military expenditures and, thus, the decrease in the number of arms on offer.
This follows directly into the paragraph on the encouragement of diplomacy and for the negotiation for the peaceful settlement of disputes for the improved status of the world peace. Women, as iterated in previous paragraphs of the Beijing Declaration, reflect this deeper well, more precise plumbing, of the source of some conflict or the inability for more robust decision-making trees to be established; those that consider the wider gamut of impact on citizens in a wartime scenario.
That being, the reduced inclusion of women, as the greater recipient of murder and maim as civilians, as non-combatants, as opposed to combatants. This comes with a direct or command based directive in the next paragraph focused on the identification and condemnation of various weapons of war, including, but limited to, rape and sexual assault even forced pregnancy.
Women become both recipients of abuse through war, and via sexual violence, but also through humiliation and degradation of the local population in defense against an aggressor state or actor. The women become a basis upon which to ethnically cleanse the peoples of the society. These victims – women, and sometimes girls – will require short-term, at a minimum, and likely long-term mental health treatment to deal with the consequent issues of being used as tools in war.
A reduction in the arms and military capacity, via a decrease in the military expenditure of a nation-state or actor, may reduce the incentive to act in murderous ways through acts of war and to, also, prevent the possible severity through attenuation of the size or scale of a conflict. A not-so well financed army is a poorer army; a poorer army is one left bereft of significant means to optimize potential harm against civilians, including the majority of them, i.e., women and children.
–(Updated 2019-08-21, only use the updated listing, please) Not all nations, organizations, societies, or individuals accept the proposals of the United Nations; one can find similar statements in other documents, conventions, declarations and so on, with the subsequent statements of equality or women’s rights, and the important days and campaigns devoted to the rights of women and girls too:
- The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the Preamble, Article 16, and Article 25(2).
- Convention Against Discrimination in Education (1960) in Article 1.
- The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966) in Article 3, Article 7, and Article 13.
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).
- Some general declarations (not individual Declaration or set of them but announcement) included the UN Decade for Women (1976-1985).
- Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) and the Optional Protocol (1999).
- Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1984).
- The Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the optional protocol (1993).
- Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995), Five-year review of progress (2000), 10-year review in 2005, the 15-year review in 2010, and the 20-year review in 2015.
- United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), and the UN Security Council additional resolutions on women, peace and security: 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), 2122 (2013), 2242 (2015), and 2467 (2019).
- Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (2000).
- The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa or the “Maputo Protocol” (2003).
- Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence or the Istanbul Convention (2011) Article 38 and Article 39.
- UN Women’s strategic plan, 2018–2021
- 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, emphasis on the entirety of the goals with a strong focus on Goal 5
- 2015 agenda with 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (169 targets for the end to poverty, combatting inequalities, and so on, by 2030). The SDGs were preceded by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) from 2000 to 2015.
- The Spotlight Initiative as another important piece of work, as a joint venture between the European Union and the United Nations.
- February 6, International Day of Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation is observed.
- February 11, International Day of Women and Girls in Science is observed.
- June 19, Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict is observed.
- June 23, is International Widows’ Day is observed.
- October 11, International Day of the Girl Child is observed.
- October 15, International Day of Rural Women is observed.
- November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is observed.
- Gender Inclusive Guidelines, Toolbox, & United Nations System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity.
- Say No, UNiTE, UNiTE to End Violence against Women, Orange the World: #HearMeToo (2018), and the 16 days of activism.
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